Why do some people live lawful lives, while others gravitate toward repeated criminality? Do people choose to be moral or immoral, or is morality simply a genetically inherited function of the brain, like mathematical ability?

Research suggests certain regions of the brain influence moral reasoning.

Without the brain’s dedicated centers for pleasure and emotional touch, an orgasm would feel more like a sneeze—convulsive, but not especially nice.

Dr. David Linden, New York Times-best-selling author of The Compass of Pleasure, delves into how the organization of our body’s touch circuits is a complex and often counter-intuitive system that affects everything from social interactions to general health and development.

The OHSU Brain Fair is an annual event at the Oregon Museum of Science & Industry (OMSI).

This year’s Brain Fair includes interactive exhibits, real human and animal brains, prizes and dozens of OHSU Brain Institute neuroscientists explaining and demonstrating their groundbreaking research in a way that will be fascinating for all ages.

Speakers include Lawrence Sherman, Ph.D. and Lynne Messer, Ph.D., M.P.H.Registration is currently full. Please email orbrains@ohsu.edu to be added to the wait-list.

]]>http://www.ohsu.edu/blogs/brain/2017/03/09/lecture-series-explores-the-secret-life-of-the-brain/feed/0Discover how alcohol, gaming, and marijuana impact your brainhttp://www.ohsu.edu/blogs/brain/2016/01/29/discover-how-alcohol-gaming-and-marijuana-impact-your-brain/
http://www.ohsu.edu/blogs/brain/2016/01/29/discover-how-alcohol-gaming-and-marijuana-impact-your-brain/#commentsFri, 29 Jan 2016 18:19:04 +0000http://www.ohsu.edu/blogs/brain/?p=3188Read More]]>Indulging in pleasurable activities is sometimes characterized as a dichotomy of good or bad. But is it all or nothing when it comes to the brain? When are healthy pleasures susceptible to harmful effects?

The positive health benefits of red wine have been popular news headlines for many years. In moderation, alcohol has been seen to improve cardiovascular health, immune system response, and even prevent gallstones.

On the other hand, the negative health and social impacts of alcoholism are apparent in just as much news coverage. Dr. Kathleen Grant will explore how behavioral neuroscience informs how, why, and when the risks of alcohol may outweigh the benefits.

The generation just coming of age has been exposed to more electronic technology than any one prior to it. Video games in particular have drawn scrutiny as influencing the obesity epidemic, attention deficits, and pronounced violence of our youth.

They also show promise as educational tools, memory enhancers, and improving high-level thinking. Dr. Adam Gazzaley will present the science behind your brain on games.

Oregon recently joined only three other states to legalize recreational marijuana. As consumption of the plant’s products becomes more a mainstream activity, its health benefits and risks will be at the forefront of policy discussions.

The OHSU Brain Fair is an annual event at the Oregon Museum of Science & Industry (OMSI). The Brain Fair is held each spring.

This year’s Brain Fair includes interactive exhibits, real human and animal brains, prizes and dozens of OHSU Brain Institute neuroscientists explaining and demonstrating their groundbreaking research in a way that will be fascinating for all ages.

]]>http://www.ohsu.edu/blogs/brain/2016/01/29/discover-how-alcohol-gaming-and-marijuana-impact-your-brain/feed/0Brain Insitute speaker: Mad Cow expert and neuroscience pioneerhttp://www.ohsu.edu/blogs/brain/2014/02/05/brain-insitute-speaker-mad-cow-expert-and-neuroscience-pioneer/
http://www.ohsu.edu/blogs/brain/2014/02/05/brain-insitute-speaker-mad-cow-expert-and-neuroscience-pioneer/#commentsWed, 05 Feb 2014 22:44:41 +0000http://www.ohsu.edu/blogs/brain/?p=1001Read More]]>Did you know that, according to the American Red Cross, you are forbidden from donating blood in the United States if you have spent a cumulative time of three months or more in the United Kingdom, from Jan. 1, 1980 through December 31, 1996?

The reason? It stems from the discovery that in some parts of the world, cattle can get an infectious, fatal brain disease called Mad Cow Disease. In these same locations, humans have started to get a new disease called variant Creutzfeld-Jacob Disease, also a fatal brain disease.

Jean Manson, Brain Awareness Lecture Series speaker

All of this relates to the first lecturer in the OHSU Brain Institute’s popular Brain Awareness Season lecture series. The lecture, at 7 p.m. on Monday Feb. 10 at the Newmark Theater in downtown Portland, will be presented by Jean Manson, one of the world’s leading experts on the group of diseases that include Mad Cow Disease.

But first, a few more details on what Mad Cow Disease has to do with humans.

Scientists believe that variant Creutzfeld-Jacob Diseases is Mad Cow Disease that has somehow transferred to humans, possibly through the food chain. There is now evidence from a small number of case reports involving patients and laboratory animal studies that vCJD — as it’s sometimes called — can be transmitted through blood transfusion. There is no test for vCJD in humans that could be used to screen blood donors and to protect the blood supply. This means that blood programs — like the American Red Cross’s — must take special precautions to keep vCJD out of the blood supply by avoiding collections from those who have been where this disease is found.

Which means that the OHSU Brain Institute’s first lecturer — a world renowned expert on this group of diseases — is not allowed to give blood in the United States.

Manson is head of the neurobiology division of the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh, Scotland. (The Roslin Institute is where the world’s most famous sheep, Dolly, was cloned.) She is also chair of Neurodegenerative Disease at the University of Edinburgh.

Professor Manson is an internationally recognized research scientist in what are called transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, or TSEs, a group of fatal diseases that affect the brain and nervous system of many animals, including humans. They’re also called prion diseases. Mad Cow Disease and Creutzfeld-Jacob Disease are within this group of diseases.

Research into the prion diseases not only tries to advance scientific knowledge into these mysterious diseases. It also has led to research advances in conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease.

Professor Manson will be talking about all of that during her lecture. She’ll also talk about the differences in how neuroscientists in the United Kingdom and the United States investigate brain disease.

Although I don’t study prion diseases specifically, my own research focuses on the aging brain and neuroendocrine changes that lead to cognitive impairment in the elderly. So as a neuroscientist, I’m very interested in her work. (We also share the blood-giving problem; like Manson, I can’t give blood in the United States, since I’m originally from the U.K.)